After hoisting the Stanley Cup for the third time in six years, the reality of a lot of offseason questions has begun to sink in for the Chicago Blackhawks.
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The Blackhawks defeated the Tampa Bay Lightning 2-0 at the United Center on June 15 to win the Stanley Cup for the third time since 2010 and the first time at home since 1938.
The Original Six franchise paraded the greatest trophy in sports around the Windy City last Thursday just as they did in 2010 and 2013.
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Chicago is set for a summer of celebrations with the Cup, but with that joyous accomplishment and the glory of celebrating comes a lot of questions this summer as salary cap pressure looms within the club.
The Blackhawks have 14 roster players signed for around $65 million, treading dangerously close to the new 2015-16 salary cap of $71.4 million, which includes captain Jonathan Toews and Patrick Kane, who are each signed to $10.5 million deals.
Toews, who is up for the Selkie Award as the forward who best excels in defensive aspects of the game at the NHL Awards Wednesday night in Las Vegas, noted that it could be a tough offseason for the franchise, much like after the first time he ever lifted the Cup.
"We're all pretty realistic about what might happen," Toews said, according to NHL.com. "All of a sudden it does feel a lot like 2010. "It's imminent, and all of a sudden we kind of turn our outlet from the positive to the negative of everything. It's going to be tough for our team and tough for some of the guys knowing we might have to lose a few."
The team is likely to re-sign a pair of restricted free agents in Brandon Saad and Marcus Kruger, but its unrestricted free agents are probable to hit the open market on July 1.
That means centers Brad Richards and deadline acquisition Antoine Vermette will likely find new homes while defenseman Johnny Oduya and Michal Rozsival are also unlikely to return.
Blue liner Kimmo Timonen is expected to retire while veterans Patrick Sharp and Bryan Bickell have already been involved in plenty of trade rumors as the Blackhawks look to shred salaries.
Sharp comes with a $5.9 million cap charge while Bickell owns a $4 million hit.
Chicago has shown resiliency in the past when forced to juggle things around, so it can never be counted out.
The Blackhawks are once again celebrating a championship, but it may come with the loss of some core players going forward.
The victory parade can't last forever.
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